[Incubation] kagent Incubation Application

# Review Project Moving Level Evaluation
- [x] I have reviewed the TOC's [moving level readiness triage guide](https://github.com/cncf/toc/blob/main/operations/dd-toc-guide.md#initial-triageevaluation-prior-to-assignment), ensured the criteria for my project are met before opening this issue, and understand that unmet criteria will result in the project's application being closed.

# kagent Incubation Application

v1.6
This template provides the project with a framework to inform the TOC of their conformance to the Incubation Level Criteria.

Project Repo(s):

* https://github.com/kagent-dev/kagent
* https://github.com/kagent-dev/community

Project Site: https://kagent.dev/

Sub-Projects: N/A

Communication: https://cloud-native.slack.com/archives/C08ETST0076

Project points of contacts: [lin.sun@solo.io](mailto:lin.sun@solo.io); [idit.levine@solo.io](mailto:idit.levine@solo.io); [yuval.kohavi@solo.io](mailto:yuval.kohavi@solo.io); [sam.heilbron@solo.io](mailto:sam.heilbron@solo.io)

(Post Incubation only) Book a meeting with CNCF staff to understand project benefits and event resources.

## Incubation Criteria Summary for kagent

### Application Level Assertion
* This project is currently Sandbox, accepted on May 22, 2025 ([ref](https://github.com/cncf/sandbox/issues/360#issuecomment-2901861001)), and applying to Incubation.
* This project is applying to join the CNCF at the Incubation level.

### Adoption Assertion

_The project has been adopted by the following organizations in a testing and integration or production capacity:_

* [kagent adopters](https://kagent.dev/) (scroll down to "who uses our products")
* [Adopters file](https://github.com/kagent-dev/website/blob/main/src/data/adopters.yaml) lists Solo.io, Amdocs, Au10tix, and Krateo
* A few users who are willing to be interviewed will be provided to the CNCF TOC in the [adopter interview questionnaire](https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1n1oLC6IKj5-7S_xeEjIdEjbtS9SWniuAo7IIOyLFuK8/prefill).

## Application Process Principles

### Suggested

N/A

### Required

- [x] **Engage with the domain specific TAG(s) to increase awareness through a presentation or completing a General Technical Review.**
* Demoed functionality to CloudNative AI WG: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/raravena_github-kagent-devkagent-cloud-native-activity-7322768514665062401-Is7X?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop&rcm=ACoAAABLihcBuozqLyftNtauegAdN2-QszsmqQQ
* Also have a General Technical Review document: https://github.com/kagent-dev/kagent/blob/main/contrib/cncf/technical-review.md
- [x] **All project metadata and resources are vendor-neutral.**
* All project resources, governance, and documentation are vendor-neutral. See [governance documentation](https://github.com/kagent-dev/community/blob/main/GOVERNANCE.md) and [charter](https://github.com/kagent-dev/community/blob/main/CHARTER.md).
- [x] **Review and acknowledgement of expectations for Sandbox projects and requirements for moving forward through the CNCF Maturity levels.**
* The team is familar with the sandbox, incubation and graduation expectations. The expectations for Sandbox requirements were met during Project's application on May 22, 2025.
- [ ] **Due Diligence Review.**

Completion of this due diligence document, resolution of concerns raised, and presented for public comment satisfies the Due Diligence Review criteria.

- [x] **Additional documentation as appropriate for project type, e.g.: installation documentation, end user documentation, reference implementation and/or code samples.**
There is easy access to installation and reference samples in kagent:
* [Installation documentation](https://kagent.dev/docs/kagent/introduction/installation)
* [Quick Start guide](https://kagent.dev/docs/kagent/getting-started/quickstart)
* [Complete documentation](https://kagent.dev/docs/kagent)
* [Examples](https://kagent.dev/docs/kagent/examples) for using existing agents or bringing your own

Additionally, kagent seamlessly integrates with other cloud-native and CNCF projects:
- **Kubernetes**: Native integration with Kubernetes APIs, RBAC, and resource management
- **Helm**: Deployment and management through Helm charts
- **OpenTelemetry**: Distributed tracing and observability
- **LLM Providers**: Secure integration with major AI model providers (OpenAI, Azure OpenAI, Anthropic, Google Vertex AI, Ollama, and custom models)
- **MCP Ecosystem**: Extensible tool system through Model Context Protocol
- **Prometheus**: Expose prometheus metrics for observability

There is optional tooling that can be used to integrate with:
- **kgateway**: Gateway and Kubernetes Gateway API integration
- **Grafana**: Observability and monitoring integration
- **Istio**: Integration with Istio Service Mesh APIs
- **Argo**: Integration with Argo Rollouts
- **Cilium**: Integration through specialized agents for eBPF-based networking

## Governance and Maintainers

Note: this section may be augmented by the completion of a Governance Review from the Project Reviews subproject.

### Suggested

- [ ] **Governance has continuously been iterated upon by the project as a result of their experience applying it, with the governance history demonstrating evolution of maturity alongside the project's maturity evolution.**
* The [governance doc](https://github.com/kagent-dev/community/commits/main/GOVERNANCE.md) has not been iterated on, since its original creation
- [x] **Clear and discoverable project governance documentation.**
* [GOVERNANCE.md](https://github.com/kagent-dev/community/blob/main/GOVERNANCE.md) provides comprehensive governance documentation.
- [x] **Governance is up to date with actual project activities, including any meetings, elections, leadership, or approval processes.**
* Community meetings are documented in [README.md](https://github.com/kagent-dev/community/blob/main/README.md#community-meetings) with calendar integration.
* While the [governance doc](https://github.com/kagent-dev/community/commits/main/GOVERNANCE.md) has not been iterated on since its original creation, it is up to date with current community expectations around meetings
- [x] **Governance clearly documents vendor-neutral of project direction.**
* The [governance values](https://github.com/kagent-dev/community/blob/main/GOVERNANCE.md#values) explicitly state "Community over Product or Company".
- [x] **Document how the project makes decisions on leadership, contribution acceptance, requests to the CNCF, and changes to governance or project goals.**
* Decision-making processes are documented in [GOVERNANCE.md](https://github.com/kagent-dev/community/blob/main/GOVERNANCE.md#voting). As highlighted there "While most business in kagent is conducted by "[lazy consensus](https://community.apache.org/committers/lazyConsensus.html)", periodically the Maintainers may need to vote on specific actions or changes. The following rules govern our voting process, unless otherwise stated for a specific purpose."
- [ ] **Document how role, function-based members, or sub-teams are assigned, onboarded, and removed for specific teams (example: Security Response Committee).**
* Role definitions and processes are documented in [CONTRIBUTOR_LADDER.md](https://github.com/kagent-dev/community/blob/main/CONTRIBUTOR_LADDER.md). These clarify how members are assigned and removed.
* There is not currently a written document that onboards these new roles.
- [x] **Document a complete maintainer lifecycle process (including roles, onboarding, offboarding, and emeritus status).**
* Complete maintainer lifecycle is documented in [CONTRIBUTOR_LADDER.md](https://github.com/kagent-dev/community/blob/main/CONTRIBUTOR_LADDER.md#maintainer).
- [x] **Demonstrate usage of the maintainer lifecycle with outcomes, either through the addition or replacement of maintainers as project events have required.**
* The project has successfully onboarded maintainers from multiple organizations as shown in [MAINTAINERS.md](https://github.com/kagent-dev/community/blob/main/MAINTAINERS.md).
- [x] **If the project has subprojects: subproject leadership, contribution, maturity status documented, including add/remove process.**
* N/A - The project does not currently have subprojects.

### Required

- [x] **Document complete list of current maintainers, including names, contact information, domain of responsibility, and affiliation.**
* Complete maintainer list with affiliations is documented in [MAINTAINERS.md](https://github.com/kagent-dev/community/blob/main/MAINTAINERS.md). It includes names, Github ID, affiliation and area of specialization.
- [x] **A number of active maintainers which is appropriate to the size and scope of the project.**
* The kagent project has organized regular [community meeting](https://github.com/kagent-dev/community/tree/main?tab=readme-ov-file#community-meetings) every Tuesday. These meetings regularly involve new members joining and participating in the project.
* The project has 8 active maintainers from 2 organizations (Solo.io and Amdocs), appropriate for the project scope.
* In addition to the maintainers, there are [88 unique contributors](https://github.com/kagent-dev/kagent/graphs/contributors) which demonstrates that the project has sufficient active maintainers and contributors to sustain its current and future momentum.
- [x] **Code and Doc ownership in Github and elsewhere matches documented governance roles.**
* GitHub permissions and [CODEOWNERS](https://github.com/kagent-dev/kagent/blob/main/CODEOWNERS) files match the documented governance structure.
* There are also clearly documented steps to [become a maintainer](https://github.com/kagent-dev/community/blob/main/CONTRIBUTOR_LADDER.md#maintainer), [what happens if a maintainer is inactive](https://github.com/kagent-dev/community/blob/main/CONTRIBUTOR_LADDER.md#inactivity) and [moving to emeritus status](https://github.com/kagent-dev/community/blob/main/CONTRIBUTOR_LADDER.md#stepping-downemeritus-process)
- [x] **Document adoption and adherence to the CNCF Code of Conduct or the project's CoC which is based off the CNCF CoC and not in conflict with it.**
* [CODE-OF-CONDUCT.md](https://github.com/kagent-dev/community/blob/main/CODE-OF-CONDUCT.md) explicitly adopts the CNCF Code of Conduct: "All members of the kagent community must abide by the [CNCF Code of Conduct](https://github.com/cncf/foundation/blob/main/code-of-conduct.md). Only by respecting one another can we build a strong and collaborative community."
- [x] **CNCF Code of Conduct is cross-linked from other governance documents.**
* The Code of Conduct document (https://github.com/kagent-dev/kagent/blob/main/CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md) is clearly discoverable in the project repository
* The Code of Conduct is referenced in [GOVERNANCE.md](https://github.com/kagent-dev/community/blob/main/GOVERNANCE.md#roles-and-membership) and [CONTRIBUTOR_LADDER.md](https://github.com/kagent-dev/community/blob/main/CONTRIBUTOR_LADDER.md#contributor).
- [x] **All subprojects, if any, are listed.**
* N/A - No subprojects currently exist.

## Contributors and Community

Note: this section may be augmented by the completion of a Governance Review from the Project Reviews subproject.

### Suggested

- [ ] **Contributor ladder with multiple roles for contributors.**
* [CONTRIBUTOR_LADDER.md](https://github.com/kagent-dev/community/blob/main/CONTRIBUTOR_LADDER.md) defines Contributor, Organization Member, and Maintainer roles.
* There are not multiple roles for contributors, yet

### Required

- [x] **Clearly defined and discoverable process to submit issues or changes.**
* Contribution processes are documented in [CONTRIBUTING.md](https://github.com/kagent-dev/kagent/blob/main/CONTRIBUTING.md) with clear pull request workflows.
- [x] **Project must have, and document, at least one public communications channel for users and/or contributors.**
* Multiple communication channels documented in [community README](https://github.com/kagent-dev/community/blob/main/README.md#communication-channels):
- [CNCF Slack #kagent channel](https://cloud-native.slack.com/archives/C08ETST0076)
- [Discord server](https://discord.com/invite/Fu3k65f2k3)
- [x] **List and document all project communication channels, including subprojects (mail list/slack/etc.). List any non-public communications channels and what their special purpose is.**
* All communication channels are listed in [community README](https://github.com/kagent-dev/community/blob/main/README.md#communication-channels).
* Private security reporting via [kagent-vulnerability-reports@googlegroups.com](mailto:kagent-vulnerability-reports@googlegroups.com) as documented in [SECURITY.md](https://github.com/kagent-dev/community/blob/main/SECURITY.md).
- [x] **Up-to-date public meeting schedulers and/or integration with CNCF calendar.**
* [Community calendar](https://calendar.google.com/calendar/u/0?cid=Y183OTI0OTdhNGU1N2NiNzVhNzE0Mjg0NWFkMzVkNTVmMTkxYTAwOWVhN2ZiN2E3ZTc5NDA5Yjk5NGJhOTRhMmVhQGdyb3VwLmNhbGVuZGFyLmdvb2dsZS5jb20) with regular community meetings.
- [x] **Documentation of how to contribute, with increasing detail as the project matures.**
* Comprehensive contribution documentation in [CONTRIBUTING.md](https://github.com/kagent-dev/kagent/blob/main/CONTRIBUTING.md) and [DEVELOPMENT.md](https://github.com/kagent-dev/kagent/blob/main/DEVELOPMENT.md).
* Project README has a section dedicated to just contributions: https://github.com/kagent-dev/kagent/blob/main/README.md#get-involved
- [x] **Demonstrate contributor activity and recruitment.**
* Active development with regular commits and pull requests across multiple repositories.
* [Blog post celebrating 100 days](https://kagent.dev/blog/kagent-celebrating-100-days) showcases community engagement and adoption.
* Introduced a mentorship program to support new contributors. An example of this was Jet Chiang who introduced a major feature to the project, CrewAI support for BYO agents ([PR](https://github.com/kagent-dev/kagent/pull/920)), and then shared it in the community meeting ([LinkedIn Post](https://www.linkedin.com/posts/lin-sun-a9b7a81_excited-about-crewai-integration-coming-to-activity-7381363221204582400-SkTX?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop&rcm=ACoAAABLihcBuozqLyftNtauegAdN2-QszsmqQQ))
* Posts celebrating contributions and engagement in weekly community meetings: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/lin-sun-a9b7a81_visual-agent-builder-is-coming-to-kagent-activity-7391527018129117184-nrGg?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop&rcm=ACoAAA3vRnUBIhXk9yzD8z3qiMYCwujuwDx1m1Y
* Presentation at KubeCon: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/lin-sun-a9b7a81_kubeconna-activity-7393848441849729024-zOmf?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop&rcm=ACoAAA3vRnUBIhXk9yzD8z3qiMYCwujuwDx1m1Y

## Engineering Principles

### Suggested

- [x] **Roadmap change process is documented.**
* Roadmap update process is documented in [ROADMAP.md](https://github.com/kagent-dev/community/blob/main/ROADMAP.md#updating-the-roadmap).
- [x] **History of regular, quality releases.**
* Release process documented in [CONTRIBUTING.md](https://github.com/kagent-dev/kagent/blob/main/CONTRIBUTING.md#releasing) with automated CI/CD pipeline in [tag.yaml](https://github.com/kagent-dev/kagent/blob/main/.github/workflows/tag.yaml).

### Required

- [x] **Document project goals and objectives that illustrate the project's differentiation in the Cloud Native landscape as well as outlines how this project fulfills an outstanding need and/or solves a problem differently.**
* Project mission and differentiation documented in [CHARTER.md](https://github.com/kagent-dev/community/blob/main/CHARTER.md) and [what-is-kagent documentation](https://kagent.dev/docs/kagent/introduction/what-is-kagent).
- [x] **Document what the project does, and why it does it - including viable cloud native use cases.**
* Comprehensive project description and use cases in [README.md](https://github.com/kagent-dev/kagent/blob/main/README.md) and [documentation](https://kagent.dev/docs/kagent).
* Cloud-native use cases include:
- Diagnosing connectivity issues across multiple service hops
- Troubleshooting application performance degradation
- Automating alert generation from Prometheus metrics
- Debugging Gateway and HTTPRoute configurations
- Managing progressive rollouts with Argo Rollouts
- [x] **Document and maintain a public roadmap or other forward looking planning document or tracking mechanism.**
* Public roadmap available at [project Kanban board](https://github.com/orgs/kagent-dev/projects/3) and [ROADMAP.md](https://github.com/kagent-dev/community/blob/main/ROADMAP.md).
- [x] **Document overview of project architecture and software design that demonstrates viable cloud native use cases, as part of the project's documentation.**
* Architecture documented in [architecture documentation](https://kagent.dev/docs/kagent/concepts/architecture) and [README.md](https://github.com/kagent-dev/kagent/blob/main/README.md#architecture).
* Core components:
- [Controller](https://github.com/kagent-dev/kagent/tree/main/go/cmd/controller): Kubernetes controller managing AI agent custom resources
- [Engine](https://github.com/kagent-dev/kagent/tree/main/python): Python application running agent conversations using ADK framework
- [UI](https://github.com/kagent-dev/kagent/tree/main/ui): Web interface for agent management
- [CLI](https://github.com/kagent-dev/kagent/tree/main/go/cli): Command-line tool for agent management
- [x] **Document the project's release process.**
* Release process documented in [CONTRIBUTING.md](https://github.com/kagent-dev/kagent/blob/main/CONTRIBUTING.md#releasing) with automated workflows in [.github/workflows/tag.yaml](https://github.com/kagent-dev/kagent/blob/main/.github/workflows/tag.yaml).

## Security

### Suggested

N/A

### Required

Note: this section may be augmented by a joint-assessment performed by TAG Security and Compliance.

- [x] **Clearly defined and discoverable process to report security issues.**
* Security reporting process documented in [SECURITY.md](https://github.com/kagent-dev/community/blob/main/SECURITY.md) with private email [kagent-vulnerability-reports@googlegroups.com](mailto:kagent-vulnerability-reports@googlegroups.com).
- [x] **Enforcing Access Control Rules to secure the code base against attacks (Example: two factor authentication enforcement, and/or use of ACL tools.)**
* GitHub repository protected with branch protection rules and 2FA requirements for maintainers as documented in [CONTRIBUTOR_LADDER.md](https://github.com/kagent-dev/community/blob/main/CONTRIBUTOR_LADDER.md#organization-member).
- [x] **Document assignment of security response roles and how reports are handled.**
* Security response process documented in [SECURITY.md](https://github.com/kagent-dev/community/blob/main/SECURITY.md#evaluation).
- [x] **Document Security Self-Assessment.**
* Security self-assessment can be found at https://github.com/kagent-dev/kagent/blob/main/contrib/cncf/security-self-assessment.md
- [x] **Achieve the Open Source Security Foundation (OpenSSF) Best Practices passing badge.**
* https://www.bestpractices.dev/projects/10723/badge
* OpenSSF Best Practices badge is passing

## Ecosystem

### Suggested

N/A

### Required

- [x] **Publicly documented list of adopters, which may indicate their adoption level (dev/trialing, prod, etc.)**
* Public adopters list maintained in [adopters.yaml](https://github.com/kagent-dev/website/blob/main/src/data/adopters.yaml) and displayed on [kagent.dev homepage](https://kagent.dev/).
- [x] **Used in appropriate capacity by at least 3 independent + indirect/direct adopters, (these are not required to be in the publicly documented list of adopters)**
* The project has confirmed usage by multiple independent organizations including Solo.io, Amdocs, Au10tix, and Krateo in various capacities from development to production.

The project provided the TOC with a list of adopters for verification of use of the project at the level expected, i.e. production use for graduation, dev/test for incubation.

- [ ] **TOC verification of adopters.**

Refer to the Adoption portion of this document.

- [x] **Clearly documented integrations and/or compatibility with other CNCF projects as well as non-CNCF projects.**
* CNCF project integrations documented through agent implementations:
- [Integrations](https://github.com/kagent-dev/kagent/tree/main/helm/agents) with many CNCF projects.
* [Tool registry](https://kagent.dev/tools) documents all available integrations
* Kubernetes: Native integration with Kubernetes APIs, RBAC, and resource management
* Helm: Deployment and management through Helm charts
* Prometheus: Expose prometheus metrics for observability
* OpenTelemetry tracing support as documented in [tracing guide](https://kagent.dev/docs/kagent/getting-started/tracing)